Rape suspect escapes from hospital

Wednesday

Mar 26, 2008 at 12:01 AMMar 26, 2008 at 12:01 PM

An alleged rapist wanted on charges of indecent assault and battery on a disabled person, incest and rape of a child under the age of 16 escaped from court officer’s custody at St. Luke’s Hospital late Tuesday afternoon.

Jay Pateakos

An alleged rapist wanted on charges of indecent assault and battery on a disabled person, incest and rape of a child under the age of 16 escaped from court officer’s custody at St. Luke’s Hospital late Tuesday afternoon.

A massive manhunt was launched by the Bristol County task force, and state and local police, with dozens of officers canvassing towns across the southcoast region.

Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson said that Superior Court officers had accompanied Anthony Flye, 38, of 18 Rowley St., Swansea and 9 Brinda Lane, Nantucket, to the hospital after her had hurled himself off the New Bedford Superior Court’s second floor earlier in the afternoon.

Hodgson said a preliminary investigation found that Flye had asked to use the bathroom in the emergency room but then disappeared. Hodgson said his officers generally take the prisoners to court where they surrender custody to court officers and don’t retake custody until they are ready to go back to the correctional facility. It was two court officers who had accompanied Flye in the ambulance.

“We got there at our change of shift around 5 p.m. and we were told by the court officer that Flye had escaped from the ER between 30 to 50 minutes before we got there,” said Hodgson.

When asked to explain the reason for the gap of time or the fact that his department had not been contacted earlier right after the escape, Hodgson said he had no explanation.

“As far as we know, it could have been an hour,” said Hodgson, referring to the gap of time between the escape and notification. “As far as we can tell the officer allowed him to use the bathroom but didn’t keep him in his sight.”

Typical protocol in a prisoner escape is to communicate that news to all local and state police as well as the sheriff’s department so that the agencies can begin the search. But that didn’t happen here, Hodgson said.

A call was placed to the home of the lead New Bedford Superior Court Officer Ralph Tavares late Tuesday night, but was not returned by press time.

Witnesses inside the hospital said they saw a man fitting Flye’s description, dressed in a green johnny, blue jeans with bare feet making his way out of the hospital. He would later try to buy a bus ticket outside the hospital entrance but the bus driver refused to grant one. Flye was later seen traveling in the direction of Hawthorne Street.

“This is a guy with a long history of rape and assault and battery, and this is something that just shouldn’t have happened,” said Hodgson, who plans to meet with the assistant chief of courts on Wednesday on the events.

“We need to know what went wrong and prevent this from happening again,” he added.

According to District Attorney spokesman Gregg Miliote, Flye’s alleged victims have “been accounted for” and are safe. Miliote said Flye has used several aliases in the past and has connections in Wareham, Martha’s Vineyard, Rhode Island and Maine, but it was unclear where he could be headed.

Flye’s appearance in court Tuesday stemmed from a request by his attorney Tracy Bulger, who argued for a reduction in Flye’s bail, which totals $1 million, claiming that Flye was not a danger to society.

Flye had been previously charged with rape, indecent assault and battery on a disabled person, assault and battery on a disabled person, rape of a child under the age of 16, enticing a child under the age of 16, incest, aggravated rape, and indecent assault and battery.

Assistant District Attorney Silvia Rudman argued against the reduction, telling Judge Robert J. Kane about Flye’s current charges, lengthy criminal history and the use of a number of aliases he had also used to commit crimes. Judge Kane decided to continue the bail hearing until Monday, March 31, in order to get a better handle on the case and Flye’s history. Flye’s bail was revoked until then.

According to a report by superior court officers, Flye was being taken from the downstairs courthouse to the lockup located on the second floor at around 12:30 p.m. When the two officers and Flye got to the top step, Flye “twisted his body” to get away from the officers and “leaped head first” over the second-floor courthouse banister, crashing to the floor, landing on his back. Flye, who stayed conscious throughout was kept immobilized by the officers until the ambulance arrived.